Adam Schiff > Quotes

“If you find that the House has proved its case and still vote to acquit, your name will be tied to his with a cord of steel and for all of history, but if you find the courage to stand up to him, to speak the awful truth to his rank falsehood, your place will be among the Davids who took on Goliath,” Schiff said, appearing to address Republican senators in particular. “Is there one among you who will say, ‘enough’?”
― Adam Schiff, Midnight in Washington: How We Almost Lost Our Democracy and Still Could

“Those first few weeks are a delirious blur of memories: a welcome dinner for new members in Statuary Hall, where Eve and I were seated with Dick Gephardt and his wife, Jane, laughing about how Adam and Eve were dining with Dick and Jane”
― Adam Schiff, Midnight in Washington: How We Almost Lost Our Democracy and Still Could

“The assault on our constitutional order was inspired by people wearing suits and ties and cloaked in the genteel language of congressional debate, but their purpose was no less ominous. We can fortify the defenses of the Capitol. We can reinforce the doors and put up fences. But we cannot guard our democracy against those who walk the halls of Congress, have taken an oath to uphold our Constitution, but refuse to do so.”
― Adam Schiff, Midnight in Washington: How We Almost Lost Our Democracy and Still Could

“But there is another story, to which I was an even more direct witness, and that is the story of how a man skilled in deception and intrigue took over an entire political party and bent it to his will. The four years of the Trump presidency destroyed many friendships, and not a few marriages. But it also destroyed the Republican Party—once devoted to robust alliances, a healthy mistrust of executive power, and the expansion of democracy around the world—and turned it into something else, something unrecognizable, an antidemocratic party, a party willing to tear down the institutions of its own government, a party willing to give aid and comfort to a malign foreign power that wishes to destroy us, a party hostile to the truth.”
― Adam Schiff, Midnight in Washington: How We Almost Lost Our Democracy and Still Could

“Mitch McConnell so graphically demonstrated when he withheld the nomination of Merrick Garland to the Supreme Court in a shocking act of constitutional disrespect for two other branches of government. Without question, the most profound and relentless assault on our democracy would come during the years of the Trump presidency. But even then, it was the willingness of members of the legislative branch to go along with his serial”
― Adam Schiff, Midnight in Washington: How We Almost Lost Our Democracy and Still Could

“good prosecutor. But I do not think that conduct—criminal or not—is okay. And the day we do think that’s okay is the day we will look back and say, “That is the day America lost its way.” And I will tell you one more thing that is apropos of the hearing today: I don’t think it’s okay that during a presidential campaign, Mr. Trump sought the Kremlin’s help to consummate a real estate deal in Moscow that would make him a fortune; according to the Special Counsel, hundreds of millions of dollars. I don’t think it is okay that he concealed it from the public. I don’t think it is okay that he advocated a new and more favorable policy toward the Russians even as he was seeking the Russians’ help—the Kremlin’s help—to make money. I don’t think it’s okay that his attorney lied to our committee. There is a different word for that than collusion. And it is called “compromise.” And that is the subject of our hearing today.”
― Adam Schiff, Midnight in Washington: How We Almost Lost Our Democracy and Still Could

“nation to conduct a sham investigation of them—what would we think then? “Would”
― Adam Schiff, Midnight in Washington: How We Almost Lost Our Democracy and Still Could

“Outside an airport one evening in Charlotte, as I waited by the curb for an Uber, a stranger approached me and said in a soft, conspiratorial tone: “You’re Adam Schiff, right?” The man was in his midthirties, short, and with a pronounced Southern accent. “Yes.” “You can tell me—there’s nothing to this ‘collusion’ stuff, is there?” “Let me ask you a question,” I responded. “What if I was to tell you that we had evidence in black and white that the Russians approached the Clinton campaign and offered dirt on Donald Trump, then met secretly with Chelsea Clinton, John Podesta, and Robby Mook in the Brooklyn headquarters of the campaign to deliver it. Then Hillary lied about it to cover it up. Would you call that collusion?” “I think I see where you’re going here,” he said, hesitantly. “Now, what if I also told you that after the election, former National Security Advisor Susan Rice secretly talked with the Russian ambassador in an effort to undermine U.S. sanctions on Russia after they interfered to help Hillary win. Would you call that collusion?” He paused for a moment, thinking it over, then said: “You know, I probably would.” His car arrived and he took off, leaving me at the curb. It had been one of those “eureka” moments, and I remember thinking, “Now, if I can only speak to a couple hundred million people.”
― Adam Schiff, Midnight in Washington: How We Almost Lost Our Democracy and Still Could

“When the Supreme Court ruled in Brown v. Board of Education and schools were forced to integrate, local officials in that county decided that they would get rid of school altogether. The public schools shut down, and the more affluent white children attended private school for the next several years. The Black children simply had no school.”
― Adam Schiff, Midnight in Washington: How We Almost Lost Our Democracy and Still Could

“Benghazi demonstrated the willingness of Republican leaders and their media allies to exploit the deaths of Americans and propagate baseless conspiracy theories to advance their political interests.”
― Adam Schiff, Midnight in Washington: How We Almost Lost Our Democracy and Still Could

“On Trump: You can’t trust this president to do the right thing, not for one minute, not for one election, not for the sake of our country. You just can’t.”
― adam schiff, Midnight in Washington: How We Almost Lost Our Democracy and Still Could

“When an administration skews its intelligence to serve a desired policy—instead of using sound intelligence to inform policy—we get disasters like the Iraq War.”
― Adam Schiff, Midnight in Washington: How We Almost Lost Our Democracy and Still Could

“I came to understand how the Kremlin exploits the most basic human vulnerabilities: preying on those who feel unappreciated and resentful, who are fixated on money and success, who have a history of dishonesty and are prone to infidelity.”
― Adam Schiff, Midnight in Washington: How We Almost Lost Our Democracy and Still Could

“It is midnight in Washington. ... How did we get here?”
― Adam Schiff, Midnight in Washington: How We Almost Lost Our Democracy and Still Could

“Midnight is the darkest moment of the day, everywhere in the world. But it is also the most hopeful, because everything that comes after holds the promise of light.”
― Adam Schiff, Midnight in Washington: How We Almost Lost Our Democracy and Still Could

“And here, to answer that question, we must look at the history of this presidency and to the character of this president—or lack of character—and ask, can we be confident that he will not continue to try to cheat in that very election?…And the short, plain, sad, incontestable answer is, no, you can’t. You can’t trust this president to do the right thing, not for one minute, not for one election, not for the sake of our country. You just can’t. He will not change, and you know it.”
― Adam Schiff, Midnight in Washington: How We Almost Lost Our Democracy and Still Could